Sutter Loses His Mind: Brings Jokinen, Tanguay Back To Calgary

 

Nobody necessarily classified Calgary Flames General Manager Darryl Sutter as a sane man. So perhaps what went down today with the Flames is called for. But he pulled a move that had pretty much everybody at TSN questioning everything they believe in by bringing back a completely failed player from the past.

After a rather good move on his end in bringing Alex Tanguay back to Calgary on a one year deal worth $1.7 million, Sutter called up Olli Jokinen and got him to return on a two-year, $6 million pact. Yes, that's the same Jokinen that Sutter tossed aside to New York last spring for Rangers castaways Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik - neither of which are still in Calgary right now.

As previously stated, the Tanguay deal is nothing to mock because he did produce pretty well with the Flames. His best season came with the team in 2006-07 when he posted a career-high 81 points between 22 goals and 59 assists. With a decline in his numbers over the past few years, it's hard to imagine he will reach that plateau again. But a single year committment at a low pricetag of under $2 million is a low-risk proposition for somebody that should, at the very least, offer around 15 goals and 40 points.

Jokinen's signing, on the other hand, is baffling. An absolute stud when he played with the Florida Panthers (and constant topic of trade chatter during his tenture there), the 31-year old Finnish center has failed miserably to bring his game to the same level in stints with the Phoenix Coyotes, Rangers and Flames. Last year, Calgary thought so little of his non-chemistry with Jarome Iginla that is participated in a cap dump for the Rangers by taking in $5.1 million in salary for Kotalik, who had two years, $6 million still left on his deal, and the pending RFA Higgins in exchange for him.

Apparently, as TSN's Darren Dreger tweeted, Sutter believed he should have never traded Jokinen. And thus, the marriage was reborn.

If it didn't work the last time, it's not going to work this time, either. Calgary was rid of Jokinen, who was pretty much set up to either take a really low offer from an NHL team on a one year basis or become the next NHL alum to head to Russia.

Poor Iginla.